1990 AFC Wild Card field

[7DnBrnc53]

Thanks for the info, 7D ... youre right, this rape case may have sent the Bengals organization downhill. Wyche said he was fired, but others claim that he was disgruntled and embarrased by his players and wanted out ...

Really? If that's true, I wonder if that win by the Oilers delayed his resignation instead (rather than his firing).

[Ten Minute Ticker]

How was Houston the final wild card team over Seattle in 1990 when they each had 9-7 records and Seattle beat Houston head-to-head?

Houston was 8-4 in AFC games and Seattle was 7-5, but wouldn't the head-to-head tiebreaker come first?

Pittsburgh was also 9-7 so it came down to conference record. Houston had 8 wins, Seattle 7 and Pittsburgh 6.

When breaking ties with multiple teams, tie breakers are applied to find who the top team is in the group. In this case Houston. Then tie breakers are reapplied to break ties of teams 2 through X in the group. If there was another wild card team making the playoffs this year, it would have been Seattle over Pittsburgh based on conference record because they didn't play head to head. If Pittsburgh finished 8-8 or less, it would be only a two way tie between HOU and SEA that SEA would win based on head to head.

So basically the Steelers bumped the Seahawks out of a wild card spot by muscling themselves into the tie in the standings between the Oilers and Seahawks.

But was that the rule in 1990?

[ChrisBabcock]

But was that the rule in 1990?

Hmmm. Possibly not? Under current rules that would have been the scenario.